The IAFOR International Conference on Language Learning - Hawaii 2016

Purpose. Language acquisition is associated with or influenced by a number of
factors which can be called sociolinguistic, social/sociological or demographic.
Among other things, children cannot avoid being influenced linguistically by their
peers and other contact persons from their neighborhood. Also, neighborhood might
be a correlate of several factors influencing language acquisition. This study aimed at
analysis of associations between German preschoolers’ sociolinguistic characteristics
and demographic characteristics of the districts where they attend daycare centers.
Methods. A sample of 1212 children (661 boys, 551 girls, 472 monolingual Germans,
658 bi/multilingual, 82 unknown; median 51 months) was tested with validated
language tests (MSSb and AWST-R) with tasks on vocabulary, grammar, speech
comprehension, articulation, and phonological short-term memory. The test results
were correlated with the characteristics of 45 Frankfurt/Main districts. Demographic
statistics for the districts were taken from the official page www.frankfurt.de.
Results. Higher total scores of language tests were associated with a low percentage
of unemployed citizens in the district, of citizens receiving various kinds of financial
aid from the state, of inhabitants who earn only up to 450 EUR/month, with a higher
average age, with a low number of immigrants, with higher salaries, a larger living
space per inhabitant, etc. The distribution of numerous sociolinguistic characteristics
in the Frankfurt districts including medical issues such as stuttering was above
chance.
Conclusions. Children attending daycare centers in the districts with a high
percentage of unemployed and poor inhabitants as well as immigrants score lower
than children from comparatively well-off districts.